Hello, everyone, and welcome to Consensus, the podcast from Sensus Technologies. I'm your host today, Tyler Kern. Welcome to another episode of the show. Today, we're asking the question, what does a successful surgical instrument management system implementation look like? And joining me today to help answer that very question is Theresa Cole. She is the manager of sterile processing at UHS Northern Nevada Sierra. Teresa, did I get the name of your state correct? Perfect. I'll give you a ten. Yes. Alright. I've I was, I was definitely used to saying Nevada, and I've been told that that is not correct. It is Nevada. So there we go. Teresa, welcome to the show. Thank you again so much for joining us. We're also joined today by Jason Blake. He's project coordinator at Sensus. Jason, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. Glad to be here. Excellent. We are happy to have both Theresa and Jason on the show today. So, Theresa, let's start off with you. What was the most important thing to you when when you were looking for a surgical asset management solution, and why did you end up with Sensus? Well, the most important thing is being able to track to the patient, kind of a thorough implementation to be able to track through the process. Sorry. My hands are going. We've used SensiTrack in the past. It was a system I was familiar with, so I was very comfortable and confident with using this in our new facility. Yeah. That's that's that's great. So when it came to to finally kind of making a decision, what made Sensi is the right choice for for you? I was not, unfortunately, involved in the original decision. That was a selling feature for me when I did apply for this job is that SensiTrack was in place. It was going to be in place because there's very extensive modules to be able to track paperless, track to the patient, track the instrumentation. It was a very comprehensive system, so that was a selling feature for sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, Teresa, tell us a little bit about what the implementation process for a surgical asset management solution looks like. What what all kind of goes into putting something in place like like what Sensus provides? Little bit of stress to start with. When you first it's overwhelming. But having a good pace foundation of what you're going to be building into the system and exactly what your end point is, what you're looking to attain at the end of the day if you're gonna track to the instrument level, the tray level, and getting all that data and good data to be able to provide to the team for a good build. Jason, from your perspective, what does implementation look like, for a surgical asset management solution? So it getting every every all the right team members together. So, I've been with Sensus for quite a while and worked through many projects and try we've gone through a lot of trial and error. As far as trying to get the right people on the phone calls. We do a lot of weekly calls that bring, everybody together. So the remote stuff that we've been all, you know, dealing with over the last couple years is not something unusual for Sensus. We've done a lot of project calls, every week. And just getting everybody on board, especially Teresa and her team, she joined us in mid mid, project, which was a a a welcome thing for us because she was very excited to jump in and get moving. But, getting your SPD, getting your OR management, your buy in your people who have the buy in for, you know, bringing the the project on board. A lot of, dealings with IT, you know, information technology folks on the hospital grounds. Security measures that have to take place of bringing a software into a hospital system. So, one of the major things is to get people together from the beginning of the conversation and be able to to work through it to, get to the endpoint where Teresa is actually able to use it. It's not just I I like to refer to a lot of things when I'm talking as talking about air, you know, because we're talking about a concept that in the end is true, but it's just something we're talking about for, like, six months, and then we're finally able to, you know, show something. So I love it. I love it. That that's that's a great point. That that's a really excellent point. So, Teresa, tell us how a team like yours can be best prepared for when the implementation team comes on-site. What does that look like, and how do you prepare your team to make sure that you're ready to go to hit the ground running? A lot of it is great communication with the census team as to what we need for the build. It's having a good team in place with kind of an endgame when you're knowing exactly where you wanna be. We had kinda mapped and planned it out, and we had weekly conversations with SensiTrack that the team was a part of knowing what we were trying to do. So, it was a lot of fun. A lot of fun. Jason, how did you prepare Teresa and her team for their implementation? I know Teresa came on kind of midway through, but how how did you begin to that preparation for them, that that would help lead them to success? So the first couple things that we actually work with have to do with the main thing is their data. What is their, information going to look like? So in the sterile processing world, folks that are probably gonna be watching this will understand count sheets and instrumentation and, you know, that is the core build for any tracking system is to ensure that you have the right data in place. All their trays, the tray names, anything that has to do with that is, the first really big thing. The second thing is working with IT and getting the hardware understood that is needed. So we go through and look at their floor plans. And for Teresa and her folks there, they had a brand new facility being built. So we were kinda going off of what it should be when it gets done. So that's that can be a little bit tricky. Sometimes we work with projects that are, they already have an existing system, and we switch over. But for hers, it was from the ground up new. So we had to get the right floor plans and understand their their logistics for the area, what would work well for their, hardware, to make the process work. Because if you don't have the processes scanning through the system. So they have all these different areas, decontamination, assembly, sterilization, all that fun stuff that has to do with getting an instrument done. You need to make sure that you can capture as much information as possible in those areas in their workflow in order for them to be able to track properly. So those are two of the main areas that we work with to get them prepared. There's a lot of IT technical, you know, interfacing and all that fun stuff that goes in the background, and we have other resources, both on Teresa's side and our side that handle those pieces. But, the main part is working with Teresa and her on the ground staff, making sure we have all of that in place and correct for them. I think that's that's really well put, Jason. I think you made some excellent points there. And so, Teresa, I wanna come back to you. Tell us how, you know, sterile processing departments are trained on this system. For us, we had the benefit of already being trained from a different, build. So we're kind of the wrong people to ask. But it's a lot of hands on showing us the tools and the features, and we had on-site people with training, which was wonderful to show us aspects that we didn't already know. Knowing what you're looking for with definitely the IT component was huge with building the right stuff in the system. So the SensiTrack team was instrumental for that. No pun intended. Teresa, is it when do do you remember back to maybe the first time you were trained on a on a SensiTrack system, whether it was at this particular hospital or a previous job? What what was that training like for you? It was on the job training from, one of my peers, and so I didn't really get to learn all the nuances of the system and how absolutely fabulous it is. So I learned as I went, accidental, in terms of the we used to do instrument tracking at our previous facility. We don't do the actual instruments here, but learning that component, how to track trays through the system, and all of the scan points that Jason was talking about earlier. So it was just trial and error on my part. Excellent. So, Jason, tell us some of the key features that you wanna make sure that teams know how to use when they're first starting out with SensiTrack. So a really big one for them is location scanning. So where, they capture all of the pieces going through the tracking system, how they're able to see that how that information filters in. So there's reports. There's all this background stuff that you can do to look at things, but front and center for Teresa and her, you know, the frontline staff, not just management, but the folks that are actually using the system being able to see what they've done. So if they look up a tray, they can see all the different areas that have been scanned. They can find out where, you know, those items are. So tracking system, that's what we, you know, that's what the system is for. So the big thing is for, being able to see the locations and and make it through the process. The other aspect of it is sterilization. So a lot of these, facilities work towards, going paperless. Being able to track, you know, their their, it's technically a legal document, you know, sterilization, what was sterilized, the biologicals that were run for it, and being able to track that and house it so that they have it readily accessible for them should they ever need it for any reason. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, Theresa, tell us what was you know, tell us about the process of working with Jason on implementation here. Obviously, like you said, you came in kind of in the middle from so from where you started to, you know, being fully implemented and ready to rock and roll, what was that process like of working with Jason? It was amazing to start with. Very thorough communication as to exactly what was needed for a successful build. Instrument names, reference numbers. Him and I worked very closely together. If I had a question about something, he was always on the end of the cell phone or email to assist, like, hey. Can we do this? Yeah. Not a problem. We can work through it this way. So it was absolutely fabulous. Really appreciated. Jason, anything you wanna add? Oh, it was a it was a great working relationship. I honestly can say it was one of the better ones that I have and, you know, I I've enjoyed working with having had an SPD background. I know what's, folks go through on a daily basis when they're trying to work with us and bring a project in with Teresa, trying to get something built from the ground up, new trays, new area, new things built. She had a great attitude, and having somebody excited for us to come in and be there always makes it so much easier. Did he did he say Nevada correctly, right off the bat, Theresa? Or do you have to teach him that? So okay. He's got it in there. Yeah. So that yeah. That that makes the relationship strong just right there from the get go. So It builds it builds that foundation. Yeah. It it it truly it truly does. So, Theresa, how important is it to have a dedicated resource to be able to call with questions and and and to to follow-up after the the the implementation process? How how vital has that been for you guys? It's been crucial, actually, to have a continuous person who really has the knowledge base behind them to support us when we have some random questions and continued support. You know, it was about a month ago when the implementation team had left, but I still continue to reach out to Jason if needed, because we're always learning stuff. The industry is ever evolving, and same with the SenseiTrack program. And having somebody on my speed dial, for lack of a better term, is is just phenomenal. Absolutely. Jason, anything from from your perspective just in that follow-up, kind of after the implementation process is over, just being that resource for people. What what what's that like for you? Well, that's really important for me to be able to, you know, because I have worked so closely with them and on all aspects leading up to it, you develop a rapport whether I ever get to meet her in person, which I did not. Sometimes I do get to go on and, you know, set up their, areas and stuff for it. But, you know, you develop these relationships over time, and you're not just gonna let them go. That's one thing we always say, you know, there is a transition to another, you know, area for support, but that we know who you are, we know what you've done. So I never have an issue with being able to follow-up with folks and and working with them. And I think that's a big piece, at my company in and of itself encapsulates that as well, you know. I not to self promote or nothing, but I know that we work very closely with everybody and we wanna make sure that they are this is their living, breathing area, you know. We we give it to them. They're the ones that have to live in it. We wanna make sure that that house is good for them. Yeah. You deserve a little little self promotion, a little pat on the back. No. I I totally agree. Theresa Coe, manager of sterile processing for UHS Northern Nevada Sierra, and Jason Blake, project coordinator at Census. Guys, thank you so much for joining us here on the podcast today and sharing a little bit more about what this process was like for you and giving us some best practices and some tips for, for other companies moving forward. It's been a pleasure having you guys on. Thank you so much. Thank you. Then everyone, thank you for joining us for this episode of Consensus, a podcast from Sensus Technologies. Make sure to subscribe to stay up to date with the latest. Of course, you can also visit the Sensus website for more about the their expertise on these topics and what they can provide, with SensiTrak. And so you wanna go check out the website and learn more about their solutions there, and stay tuned. We'll be back soon with more episodes of the show. But for this one, for Teresa and Jason, I'm your host, Tyler Kern. We'll talk to you again soon.
